We present a software package called Microscopy Image Segmentation Tool (MIST). MIST is designed for analysis of microscopy images which contain large collections of small regions of interest (ROIs). Originally developed for analysis of porous anodic alumina scanning electron images, MIST capabilities have been expanded to allow use in a large variety of problems including analysis of biologica...

Wide-field fluorescence microscopy is a commonly used imaging technique by researchers and clinicians. A standard wide-field microscope has no optical sectioning capabilities and this limits its use in imaging thick biological samples. Although standard wide-field fluorescence microscopy with deconvolution techniques can improve image quality [1], it does not provide true optical sectioning, du...

PURPOSE To study, by a new, integrated, laser scanning confocal microscopy approach, the ocular surface morpho-functional unit in patients with primary Sjogren syndrome (SSI), non-Sjogren syndrome dry eye (non-SSDE), and meibomian gland disease (MGD). METHODS Patients and age- and sex-matched control subjects (N = 60; 15 each) were consecutively enrolled in a prospective case-control study. L...

We report a method for characterizing the focussing laser beam exiting the objective in a laser scanning microscope. This method provides the size of the optical focus, the divergence of the beam, the ellipticity and the astigmatism. We use a microscopic-scale knife edge in the form of a simple transmission electron microscopy grid attached to a glass microscope slide, and a light-collecting op...

Anatomic study of synaptic connections in the nervous system is laborious and difficult, especially when neurons are large or have fine branches embedded among many other processes. Although electron microscopy provides a powerful tool for such study, the correlation of light microscopic appearance and electron microscopic detail is very time-consuming. We report here a simple method combining ...

M ultiphoton laser scanning microscopy offers improved axial resolution over confocal microscopy for three-dimensional (3D) imaging of fluorescently labeled cells. It also greatly reduces phototoxicity and photobleaching outside the plane of focus when collecting 3D series of optical sections in living tissue. This permits images to be collected at shorter intervals with less harm to the specim...

The incidence of caries has declined; however, other dental lesions such as tooth wear are becoming increasingly important. Dental wear is a multifactorial process that may encompass erosion, abrasion, and combinations thereof. Therefore, various methodologies have been applied to evaluate the loss of dental hard tissue and the surface-softened zone in enamel induced by abrasive and erosive cha...